Outdoor backpacks, folding chairs, and chairs with a storage bag in separate units are used in camping and outdoor activities. Yet, when camping and hiking, transporting a chair is cumbersome even if the chair can be strapped to a backpack. Small camping stools, as sometimes are combined with a backpack, lack a backrest and thus are not comfortable for extended use. The use of such stools can strain the back after lengthy periods of sitting, especially when used by people with back problems. Hence, the combination of a chair having back support and a backpack is desirable and several such combinations have been attempted.
The unsolved problems in the art fall into two interrelated areas. First, viewed from the perspective of a good chair, the art lacks a combined backpack and chair structure that provides an adequate backrest when the combination is deployed in seating configuration. The difficulty is that the backpack component and the chair backrest component suffer physical interference with each other during deployment or storage of the chair. As a result, the most common approach in the art is to eliminate any backrest. Other approaches are to provide a backrest that is fixed and does not store or one that must be removed for storage, or one that is compromised in function and seating position. Second, viewed from the perspective of a good backpack, the art lacks a combination in which the stored chair contributes to the comfort, efficiency and load carrying ability of the backpack.
In prior combinations of a chair and backpack, the chair design falls into either of two general groups. One group uses a camp stool base, having a typical scissors or X-frame. The open position of a camp stool is defined and limited by a fabric seat connecting the ends of the frame members, which seat is placed in tension when the stool is opened and in use. When the camp stool is stored, the frame closes to a planar position and the fabric seat is relaxed and folded between the frame members. The second group uses a parallelogram frame, in which the fabric chair seat is carried in its own frame and is in tension regardless of whether the chair is deployed. The chair legs both pivot separately with respect to the seat and store in an approximately flat or planar storage position.
In the first group, U.S. Pat. No. 4,387,924 to Fernandez discloses a basic camp stool having both the seat fabric and a backpack attached to the top of the frame. U.S. Pat. No. 2,843,185 to Clem et al shows a camp stool with its seat sewn to the backpack.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,773,574 to Burgard discloses a camp stool base with a removable backrest pinned to each side of the base. In order to store the backrest, it must be removed and then can be inverted and re-installed on the base for compact carrying. Austrian Patent 197,550 to Johansson shows a camp stool and attached backpack, in which tray is pivoted to one frame member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,866 to Korte varies the stool structure by providing one frame member longer than the other, supporting a fabric seat as a loose sling running front to back, providing a recliner style chair. The backpack hangs from the top of the longer frame member and serves as a pillow when the chair is in reclined position. Because the seat fabric is not in tension to limit the open position of the chair frame, Korte requires braces that interconnect the frame members and control the degree of opening. This sling style chair primarily is suited for lounging or sleeping but does not provide back support for typical upright seating, such as for eating.
In the second group of patents, the chairs resemble common folding lawn chairs. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,707 to Kjaer, the seat and front leg are parts of a single rigid frame that cannot fold into a planar position. The rear leg and backrest are a second frame, pivoted to the first frame. When this chair is folded and combined with a backpack, the front leg protrudes rearwardly and serves as a shelf that supports the backpack. U.S. Pat. No. 5,538,318 to MacLean shows a folding lawn chair that has attachments on the standard backrest for optional connection to a backpack. U.S. Pat. No. 5,297,708 to Carpenter uses a standard folding lawn chair to which is added a cargo platform. These lawn chairs are only marginally integrated with a backpack and are not parts of an efficient combination. U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,548 to Bradbury shows such a folding chair with a backpack on the back face of the backrest. This chair design will tip backwards when the backpack is weighted, and in backpack mode the chair frame applies unprotected metal frame members against the user's back.
The chief shortcoming of the art is the lack of an efficient system for transforming the combination of backpack and chair with backrest between seating mode and backpack mode. A related shortcoming is the lack of a compact package, wherein in seating mode the chair provides an upright back support for seating, and in backpack mode the chair aids in supporting the backpack for transport. When used in seating mode, the chair should provide an upright back support useful to brace the back, for example, during eating or a card game. Stools, sling chairs or recliner chairs, as found in prior art, are not well suited for this type of usage. Specifically, they lack good support in the backrest, and they convert awkwardly between seating mode and backpack mode.
When the chair is being struck or deployed, the transition should be smooth and not require disassembly or reassembly of the chair itself or of the combined chair and the backpack. A camp stool without a backrest can transition easily, but a backrest and backpack tend to interfere with each other. Until now, such interference has prevented a permanently assembled combination of lawn chair with backrest and a backpack.
When the backpack and chair is used in backpack mode, it would be desirable for the chair to provide further useful support for the backpack at the base of the combination. A single frame can serve both the backpack and the chair, in respective backpack mode and seating mode, offering an advantage in reduced weight, reduced bulk, and increased convenience. It would be especially desirable to have a chair and backpack combination that provides a chair with a comfortable backrest for back support when deployed. Correspondingly, it would be desirable for the backrest to provide back support when struck and used in backpack mode. The use of the backrest to provide such back support is especially desirable, since in an efficient camp chair, the backrest is likely to be the only portion of the lightweight chair structure provided with padding or cushioning.
To achieve the foregoing and other objects and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, the combined chair and backpack of this invention may comprise the following.